COME AND EXPLORE ideas around urban transportation

Filmmaker Laura J. Lukitsch

For me, transportation has at times been a source of freedom and at times it has felt like a weight. As young as five I was able to use my two feet and explore the neighborhood, heading down to the little creek to catch crawfish or going out to the dairy farm behind our house to play with the farm cats.

Then, we moved to a new subdivision and I had to rely on my parents and their car to visit friends and nature. This didn't endear me to the car.

So when I visited Japan and could go everywhere by foot, bike, and some form of well connected, well timed public transportation, I again experienced that great sense of freedom that comes from being able to move freely.

It seems that I'm not alone in my lack of romance with the car.

When I started this project, my primary focus was on the alternative to the car. But as I dug into the issues, I found that the impact of car culture goes much deeper. Not only is it uncomfortable, ugly, and frustrating for many people, and polluting and damaging to our environment, the current investment in cars over other forms of transportation is inherently unequitable.

In Mind the Gap, I hope to start the conversation of how our investment decisions impact our communities. I want to look at who gains and who loses. And how our perception of public space versus individual rights factors into these decisions unconsciously.